Criticism over B.C. government’s handling of Texada grizzly bear shooting

The two people fined in the death of a grizzly bear on Texada Island last year have now started a GoFundMe to help pay their fines and legal fees.

In a post on social media on Thursday, the Conservation Officer Service said Texada Island residents Kody Bevan and Seneca Antony pleaded guilty and were sentenced in Powell River provincial court on Thursday for failing to promptly report the wounding or killing of a grizzly bear, a violation under section 75(2) of the Wildlife Act (WLA).

Bevan and Antony received a combined penalty of $6,000, with $2,000 from each fine directed to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

However, they say in their GoFundMe description that they had to kill the bear as it was coming after their dairy cows and when they shot him, he fled and they had to track him down to make sure he didn’t suffer.

The two said in their write-up that the litigation “sends the wrong message to people who have dangerous encounters with wildlife.”

One expert said the court fine is a good step, but the system still needs improvement.

“This was an important conviction,” Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of the Grizzly Bear Foundation.

“It’s important to acknowledge that the Wildlife Act was broken and that we value wildlife, maybe not as much as we’d like, given the decision and the amount of the fine. But we have to remember that the Wildlife Act hasn’t changed since the 1800s; it’s currently up for review. So there’s an opportunity to change that.”

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The grizzly, known as Tex, was first spotted on Texada Island in late May.

There was a plan and funding in place to relocate the bear, roughly 100 kilometres northwest to Bute Inlet, but by the time the B.C. government approved the process, the bear was shot dead.

“And there was nothing but heel-dragging by our province,” Ellie Lamb, a bear behaviour educator, said.

“So, my concern is that this is systemic. We are seeing this time after time.”

B.C.’s Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship was not available for comment on Friday.

“The province needs to work quicker and they need to work more closely with First Nations governments to co-manage these situations,” Scapillati said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and hopefully this is a good message and acknowledgment so we can move forward.”

 

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